1lxc-copy(1) lxc-copy(1)
2
6 lxc-copy - copy an existing container.
7
9 lxc-copy {-n, --name name} [-P, --lxcpath path] {-N, --newname newname}
10 [-p, --newpath newpath] [-B, --backingstorage backingstorage]
11 [-s, --snapshot] [-K, --keepname] [-D, --keepdata] [-M,
12 --keepmac] [-L, --fssize size [unit]] [-- hook arguments]
13 lxc-copy {-n, --name name} [-P, --lxcpath path] [-N, --newname newname]
14 [-p, --newpath newpath] {-e, --ephemeral} [-B,
15 --backingstorage backingstorage] [-s, --snapshot] [-K,
16 --keepname] [-D, --keepdata] [-M, --keepmac] [-L, --fssize
17 size [unit]] [-- hook arguments]
18 lxc-copy {-n, --name name} [-P, --lxcpath path] [-N, --newname newname]
19 [-p, --newpath newpath] {-e, --ephemeral} [-B,
20 --backingstorage backingstorage] [-s, --snapshot] [-t,
21 --tmpfs] [-K, --keepname] [-M, --keepmac] [-- hook arguments]
22 lxc-copy {-n, --name name} [-P, --lxcpath path] {-N, --newname newname}
23 [-p, --newpath newpath] {-R, --rename}
24
26 lxc-copy creates and optionally starts (ephemeral or non-ephemeral)
27 copies of existing containers.
28 lxc-copy creates copies of existing containers. Copies can be complete
30 clones of the original container. In this case the whole root filesys‐
31 tem of the container is simply copied to the new container. Or they can
32 be snapshots, i.e. small copy-on-write copies of the original contain‐
33 er. In this case the specified backing storage for the copy must sup‐
34 port snapshots. This currently includes btrfs, lvm (lvm devices do not
35 support snapshots of snapshots.), overlay, and zfs.
36 The copy's backing storage will be of the same type as the original
38 container. overlay snapshots of directory backed containers are exempt‐
39 ed from this rule.
40 When the -e flag is specified an ephemeral snapshot of the original
42 container is created and started. Ephemeral containers will have
43 lxc.ephemeral = 1 set in their config file and will be destroyed on
44 shutdown. When -e is used in combination with -D a non-ephemeral snap‐
45 shot of the original container is created and started. Ephemeral con‐
46 tainers can also be placed on a tmpfs with -t flag. NOTE: If an
47 ephemeral container that is placed on a tmpfs is rebooted all changes
48 made to it will currently be lost!
49 When -e is specified and no newname is given via -N a random name for
51 the snapshot will be chosen.
52 Containers created and started with -e can have custom mounts. These
54 are specified with the -m flag. Currently two types of mounts are sup‐
55 ported: bind, and overlay. Mount types are specified as suboptions to
56 the -m flag and can be specified multiple times separated by commas.
57 overlay mounts are currently specified in the format -m over‐
58 lay=/src:/dest. When no destination dest is specified dest will be
59 identical to src. Read-only bind mounts are specified -m
60 bind=/src:/dest:ro and read-write bind mounts -m bind=/src:/dest:rw.
61 Read-write bind mounts are the default and rw can be missing when a
62 read-write mount is wanted. When dest is missing dest will be identical
63 to src. An example for multiple mounts would be -m
64 bind=/src1:/dest1:ro,bind=/src2:ro,overlay=/src3:/dest3.
65 The mounts, their options, and formats supported via the -m flag are
67 subject to change.
68
70 -N,--newname newname
71 The name for the copy.
72 -p,--newpath newpath
74 The path for the copy.
75 -R,--rename
77 Rename the original container.
78 -s,--snapshot
80 Create a snapshot of the original container. The backing storage
81 for the copy must support snapshots. This currently includes
82 btrfs, lvm, overlay, and zfs.
83 -F,--foreground
85 Run the snapshot in the foreground. The snapshots console will
86 be attached to the current tty. (This option can only be speci‐
87 fied in conjunction with -e.)
88 -d, --daemon
90 Run the snapshot as a daemon (This is the default mode for
91 ephemeral containers.). As the container has no more tty, if an
92 error occurs nothing will be displayed, the log file can be used
93 to check the error. (This option can only be specified in con‐
94 junction with -e.)
95 -m, --mount mounttype
97 Specify a mount for a snapshot The opts argument for the mount
98 type can by of type {bind, overlay}. For example -m
99 bind=/src:/dest:ro,overlay=/src:/dest (This option can currently
100 only be specified in conjunction with -e.).
101 -t, --tmpfs
103 When this option is specified the ephemeral container will be
104 placed on a tmpfs. NOTE: Rebooting an ephemeral container that
105 is located on a tmpfs will currently cause all changes made to
106 it to be lost. This flag will only work for ephemeral containers
107 created with the -e flag. The original container, from which the
108 ephemeral snapshot is created, must be stored as a simple direc‐
109 tory.
110 -B, --backingstorage backingstorage
112 Specify the backing storage type to be used for the copy where
113 'backingstorage' is of type 'btrfs', 'dir', 'lvm', 'loop',
114 'overlay', or 'zfs'.
115 -L, --fssize size [unit]
117 Specify the size for an 'lvm' filesystem.
118 -K, --keepname
120 When this option is specified the hostname of the original con‐
121 tainer will be kept for the copy.
122 -D, --keepdata
124 When this option is specified with -e a non-ephemeral container
125 is created and started.
126 -M, --keepmac
128 When this option is specified the MAC address of the original
129 container will be kept for the copy.
130
132 If the container being copied has one or more lxc.hook.clone specified,
133 then the specified hooks will be called for the new container. The
134 first 3 arguments passed to the clone hook will be the container name,
135 a section ('lxc'), and the hook type ('clone'). Extra arguments passed
136 to lxc-copy will be passed to the hook program starting at argument 4.
137 The LXC_ROOTFS_MOUNT environment variable gives the path under which
138 the container's root filesystem is mounted. The configuration file
139 pathname is stored in LXC_CONFIG_FILE, the new container name in
140 LXC_NAME, the old container name in LXC_SRC_NAME, and the path or de‐
141 vice on which the rootfs is located is in LXC_ROOTFS_PATH.
142
144 These options are common to most of lxc commands.
145 -?, -h, --help
147 Print a longer usage message than normal.
148 --usage
150 Give the usage message
151 -q, --quiet
153 mute on
154 -P, --lxcpath=PATH
156 Use an alternate container path. The default is /var/lib/lxc.
157 -o, --logfile=FILE
159 Output to an alternate log FILE. The default is no log.
160 -l, --logpriority=LEVEL
162 Set log priority to LEVEL. The default log priority is ERROR.
163 Possible values are : FATAL, CRIT, WARN, ERROR, NOTICE, INFO,
164 DEBUG.
165 Note that this option is setting the priority of the events log
167 in the alternate log file. It do not have effect on the ERROR
168 events log on stderr.
169 -n, --name=NAME
171 Use container identifier NAME. The container identifier format
172 is an alphanumeric string.
173 --rcfile=FILE
175 Specify the configuration file to configure the virtualization
176 and isolation functionalities for the container.
177 This configuration file if present will be used even if there is
179 already a configuration file present in the previously created
180 container (via lxc-create).
181 --version
183 Show the version number.
184
186 lxc(7), lxc-create(1), lxc-copy(1), lxc-destroy(1), lxc-start(1), lxc-
187 stop(1), lxc-execute(1), lxc-console(1), lxc-monitor(1), lxc-wait(1),
188 lxc-cgroup(1), lxc-ls(1), lxc-info(1), lxc-freeze(1), lxc-unfreeze(1),
189 lxc-attach(1), lxc.conf(5)
190
192 Christian Brauner <christian.brauner@mailbox.org>
193 2019-09-09 lxc-copy(1)